§ Sir B. STANIERasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture whether Mr. W. W. Maybury, of Horley, Banbury, Oxfordshire, prior to his demobilisation in January, 1919, applied to the Oxfordshire county council for a small holding, in accordance with the particulars concerning land settlement which had been circulated amongst the Army; whether he is aware that this man volunteered for the Army in August, 1914, and, though not accepted, volunteered again in December, 1915, and was then accepted, and served till he was demobilised in January, 1919; whether the man was interviewed in April, 1919, by the county council referred to; whether in January, 1920, he asked the Ministry to take up his case, giving full particulars, and has heard nothing further from it since 30th January, 1920; whether the Ministry are aware that in anticipation of getting a holding the applicant has for a long time been getting live and dead stock together which, unless he can at once procure land or the early promise of it, he must sell at a time of the year most unfavourable, and find employment as best he can; whether the council is actually doing anything or nothing to settle this man on the land in accordance with his wishes; whether the Ministry, when appeals are made to it by ex-service men for assistance, are content, as in this case, to rest with a mere acknowledgment of the same so far as the applicant is concerned; and what the Ministry now proposes to do for Mr. Maybury?
Sir A. BOSCAWENThe Ministry has no definite information with regard to the matters raised in the first, second and third parts of the question, but I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of the various statements. With regard to the fourth part, the Ministry received a communication from Mr. Maybury, dated the 25th January last, as a result of which enquiries were made of the Oxfordshire County Council, and a letter was addressed to Mr. Maybury on the 24th February last stating that the Council had approached the agents of the owner of the property on which Mr. Maybury had asked for a holding with early possession, but that the Council had been informed that the agents could only receive offers for the property, and that it 1465W would take some months to obtain a reply from the owner, who was in America. Mr. Maybury was also informed that the Council were negotiating for the lease of 300 acres of good land in the next parish. Sub-Commissioner of the Ministry also interviewed Mr. Maybury in April last, and explained the whole position to him.
A further communication was received by the Ministry from Mr. Maybury on the 31st May last, and the matter was referred to the District Commissioner in order to ascertain definitely that negotiations for the acquisition of land to satisfy Mr. Maybury's requirements were being proceeded with. The Commissioner reported on the 18th June last that negotiations were proceeding, but a further communication was not addressed to Mr. Maybury, as there was, as yet, nothing to add to the information already given to him. The matter was, however, again referred to the Ministry's District Commissioner that he might arrange a further interview with Mr. Maybury, which he has not yet been able to do.
The county council have made efforts to obtain land in Mr. Maybury's district, both privately and at public auction, but, owing to the high prices realised at the auctions, they have been unsuccessful. At a meeting held on the 3rd instant the Small Holdings Committee of the county council resolved to accept the offer of Christ Church College of a lease of a farm of 300 acres at Wroxton, the next parish to Horley, with possession next Michaelmas, and if, as is hoped, this transaction will go through, Mr. Maybury will be offered 20 acres (for which he applied) of this land.
It is hoped that it will not be necessary for Mr. Maybury to dispose of his live and dead stock, and I am arranging that the urgency of his case shall be again brought to the notice of the council, in order that steps may be taken to satisfy his requirements at the earliest date possible.
Sir L. HARMSWORTHasked the Secretary for Scotland what land between, say, Skibo and Helmsdale, in Sutherlandshire, has been acquired by the Board of Agriculture for the purpose of the settlement of ex-service men?
Mr. C. D. MURRAYThe Board has not acquired any land for the settlement1466W of ex-service men in the locality referred to.